Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blasted reports of spending cuts taking place at the Pentagon, saying they are actually “refocusing” their existing budget “away from Biden priorities.”

Hegseth’s Department of Defense is expected to be a prime target for the Department of Government Efficiency’s grand government efficiency plans. The department has already touted $50 billion in cuts from its budget. He said he welcomed DOGE and met with its employees.

“We inherited that budget one month ago from the Biden administration,” Hegseth said in a lengthy statement posted to X on Thursday. “We are refocusing — that’s a key word — our existing budget away from the Biden priorities that frankly, were all over the map compared to President [Donald] Trump’s priorities of building a lethal fighting force.”

“It’s not a cut. It’s refocusing and reinvesting existing funds into building a force that protects you, the American people,” he added.

Hegseth said former Biden priorities, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion and combatting climate change, are not core to the Pentagon’s mission.

“They care just like we do, to find the redundancies and identify the last vestiges of Biden priorities — the DEI, the woke, the climate change B.S., that’s not core to our mission, and we’re going to get rid of it all,” Hegseth said.

“With DOGE, we’re focusing as much as we can on headquarters and fat and redundancies and top line stuff that allows us to reinvest elsewhere,” he added, heaping praise on Elon Musk’s department.

Hegseth also addressed the federal government’s purge of probationary employees, saying the DOD will start with poor performers. “Bottom line, it is simply not in the public interest to retain individuals whose contributions are not mission-critical,” the defense secretary said. “We start with poor performers amongst our probationary employees, because that is common sense, and you want the best and brightest.”

WHAT IS DOGE? WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY

Hegseth was confirmed by the Senate days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, vowing to restore trust in the military.

“We’re motivated to rebuild the most capable military in the world. That’s why I’m here. That’s what the president has asked me to do. But doing so does require tough decisions, and we are prepared to make them,” he said on Thursday.